Chakotay
Chakotay was a Starfleet officer and former member of the Maquis. He wore a tattoo on his forehead to signify his Native American heritage. Chakotay resigned from Starfleet soon after the foundation of the Maquis as he felt his homeworld was in danger from the Cardassians. Family Chakotay's father, Kolopak, disapproved of his son joining Starfleet. In 2344 Kolopak was insistent upon finding his ancestors home in Central America. There Chakotay, who was fifteen years old and his sights already set on Starfleet, shocked his father by telling him he would be leaving him to enter Starfleet Academy. Kolopak was killed while defending his colony aginst Cardassians (VOY: "Tattoo"). When the news reached Chakotay, he resigned from Starfleet to join the Maquis. It was then that he got his tattoo in order to honor the memory of his father. The news about the defeat of the Maquis reached Chakotay through a letter from his cousin on Earth to Voyager via the Hirogen communications network. When Chakotay was young he looked after his grandfather, who suffered from hallucinations caused by an inherited defective gene. This gene was suppressed in Chakotay before birth, although it was activated for a brief period in 2375 by aliens who attempted to make contact with the crew of Voyager. (VOY: "The Fight") Later in life Chakotay would place great faith in his spiritual background. He used vision quests to help guide his life and commune with his father's spirit, and used a Mayan medicine wheel for healing himself. The Pakra is the name of the solitary ritual by which Chakotay commemorates the anniversary of Kolopak's death. On Stardate 49005.3 Captain Kathryn Janeway granted him the use of a shuttlecraft so he could perform the ritual in private. (VOY: "Initiations") Starfleet Career Starfleet Academy Chakotay's entry in to Starfleet Academy, at the age of fifteen, was sponsored by Captain Sulu. :It is generally accepted that Chakotay was referring to Captain Hikaru Sulu or one of his descendants. The non-canon anthology ''Star Trek: The Captain's Table states that it was Captain Demora Sulu, Hikaru's daughter, who sponsored him. This is rather odd, given that Chakotay specifically refers to the Captain Sulu who sponsored him as "he" in VOY: "Tattoo". Chakotay possessed great piloting skills. He trained as a pilot in North America his first year at the Academy. Then he went to Venus for a couple of months to learn how to handle atmospheric storms, and later dodged asteroids for a semester in the belt located between Mars and Jupiter. (VOY: "Future's End, Part II") He was also trained as an anthropologist. (VOY: "Blink of an Eye") Chakotay also became a proficient boxer at the light heavyweight level, with a record of 23 wins and one loss. The loss was to a Nausicaan with "a mean right hook." According to B'Elanna Torres, "Legend has it that "The Tattooed Terror" has put more men in sickbay than the Ankaran flu." (VOY: "Tsunkatse") End of Career Chakotay gave his resignation to Admiral Nimembeh on March 3, 2368 and after his father was killed in 2371, he resisted the Cardassian takeover of his planet - as per the terms of the border treaty between Cardassia and the Federation - by joining the Maquis. He could not stand by and watch his people being displaced as had happened on Earth. He became one of the leaders of the Maquis and his cell became one of the most successful in resisting the Cardassians and Federation. In order to stop him, an undercover agent by the name of Tuvok was sent to join his group and was still aboard his ship the ''Val Jean when it disappeared in the Badlands. Voyager The First Year Chakotay and his crew were transported to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker's array. Voyager also was transported at the same time. Chakotay would agree to cooperate with Janeway, when both crews were subjected to medical testing, and after they were returned to their ships, one of his crew and one of Janeway's crew was missing. The crewmembers were located and the Caretaker's Array was destroyed so it would not fall into the hands of the Kazon. Chakotay crashed his ship into a Kazon battleship protecting Voyager while it destroyed the Array. Following the destruction of the Val Jean in the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay and his crew joined Voyager's crew. Chakotay was granted the provisional rank of lieutenant commander and became Voyager's First Officer. (VOY: "Caretaker") He had his share of pains after joining Voyager. He found out that Tuvok was a Federation spy. Seska, his lover, was revealed to be a Cardassian spy when Chakotay discovered that she had been disclosing Federation technology to the Kazon. A blood test would revealed that she was a Cardassian. On an away mission, his shuttlecraft was attacked by the Komar, a race that was trying to collect the crew's neural energy. After the attack, Chakotay was rendered brain dead. But, in reality, he had been taken over by one of the Komar. After defeating the Komar, Voyager became lost in a nebula. Suddenly, Neelix was compelled to rearrange markers on a medicine wheel owned by Chakotay that led them out of the nebula. Even in a disembodied condition he was able to help Voyager.(VOY: "State of Flux", "Cathexis") Chakotay possessed great moral courage and served Janeway well as first officer; his loyalty never wavered. He helped keep the peace and establish cooperation between his Maquis crew and the Starfleet crew. This was evident when Tuvok wished to train a group of Maquis to bring them up to Starfleet standards. When they refused, Chakotay forcefully and physically persuaded them. He also supported his former Maquis crewmembers. He recommended to Janeway that Torres should be promoted to chief engineer, despite her temper. (VOY: "Learning Curve", "Parallax") He would lead the rescue attempt of Tom Paris and Torres who were captured by the Vidiians, and attempt to find Harry Kim, who had become lost in a holoprogram of Beowulf. Confronted by the characters in the program, they attempted to fight an energy being trapped in the program, they also disappear. They would be saved by the Doctor. (VOY: "Faces", "Heroes and Demons") 2371 After an accident affected the program of the Doctor, he was about to destroy Voyager by firing a phaser into the warp core. Chakotay convinced the Doctor that the system was offline and that he needed to return to sickbay so that his matrix could be adjusted. (VOY: "Projections") Later that year, Voyager was attacked by a swarm of space-dwelling aliens, whose energy played havoc with the Voyager systems. While trying to move away from the swarm, Voyager was confronted by a larger being wishing to mate with the swarm which believed Voyager to be its rival. Chakotay suggested that the ship submit to the larger creature and roll over. This solved the situation. (VOY: "Elogium") Janeway became disabled during the confrontation with the Botha, who could project hallucinations into the crewmembers. Chakotay took command, but his attempts to reason with the aliens failed and fighting broke out. The Botha were driven off the ship when the Kes' telepathic powers were able to block the Botha hallucinations. (VOY: "Persistence of Vision") While stranded on a planet, Chakotay came in contact with an alien race that spoke the language of his ancestors. Voyager had been ravaged by fierce storms that had been destroying the ship. They explained that they had visited his ancestors over 45,000 years ago, and were known to the tribe as the sky spirits. When they returned to Earth, finding no trace of the tribe, they believed they had been killed by other Humans. When Voyager made contact with the planet, they used the storms as protection because they believed the Humans would destroy them. Chakotay assured them of the peaceful intentions of Voyager, and the storms stopped. (VOY: "Tattoo") Chakotay and Janeway were infected with an uncurable virus that necessitated them being left on a planet whose environment blocked the progresssion of the disease. During this time together, they drew closer and the first signs of affection between the two begin to manifest itself. After an antidote was found for the disease and they returned to the ship, they maintained a professional relationship. (VOY: "Resolutions") The Kazon Chakotay would become one of the central figures in the conflict with the Kazon. One of the first encounters took place during the time he was performing a ritual to honor his father's death. A young Kazon attacked him during his initiation as a warrior. Chatokay destroyed his ship, and both were captured by the Kazon and condemned to die. After escaping their death sentence, Kar killed the maje and was proclaimed a warrior, thanks in part to Chatokay's help. However, Chatokay was warned that next time he met the Kazon, they would kill him. His next meeting with the Kazon also was a reunion with Seska, who had defected to the Kazon-Nistrim, who were led by Cullah. They had stolen a module that enabled them to penetrate Voyager's shields. Chakotay was able to board the Kazon ship and destroy the module; however, he was captured and tortured by the Kazon. He was rescued by Voyager, but not before Seska told him that she had extracted his DNA and impregnated herself with it. (VOY: "Initiations", "Maneuvers") During a constant series of attacks on Voyager by the Kazon, Chakotay suggested that Voyager try to form alliances with some of the Kazon sects. This failed when the Trabe, the Kazon's enemies, attempted to assassinate the leaders at the conference. Shortly after that, Chatokay received a message from Seska that she had given birth to his child, and that Cullah planned to kill her and take the child. Although Seska was not trustworthy, Janeway agreed to try and save his son. It was a trap and Voyager was captured, and the crew stranded on a barren planet. Chakotay's knowledge of nature and Maquis training helped the crew survive until they were rescued by Paris, the Doctor and Lon Suder. (VOY: "Alliances", "Basics, Part I and Part II") 2373 He was part of an away team that landed on the planet Takar. He discovered that the planet was ruled by two Ferengi who had become lost in a wormhole. (VOY: "False Profits") Q would involved the crew of Voyager in a civil war betweem the Q Continuum. After Janeway is swept into the Continuum by Q, Chakotay assumes command of Voyager, who still has a female Q on board. He agrees to help the female Q and rescue both Q and Janeway who have been captured by opposing forces. They would save them and end the civil war. (VOY: "The Q and the Grey") He was with Janeway when their shuttle crashed on a planet inhabited by an alien that invaded Janeway's cerebral cortex, and tried to convince that she was dead so she would give up her soul, so the alien could use her energy as a power soucrce. (VOY: "Coda") Torres would experience pon farr, after being infected by Vorik who was being driven mad by the condition. When she lands on a planet to find gallicite, she turns agressive and out of control. Chakotay and Tuvok would land on the planet to locate her, but were captured by the Sakari. The Sakari had moved underground after their ancestors had been attacked by alien invaders. Chakotay convinces them that Voyager comes in peace, and offers a trade, Gallicite for technology to protect themselves, which the Sakari accept. After locating Torres, she engages in a ritual battle with Vorik that cures them of the pon farr. Before they leave Chakotay discovers a skeleton of one of the aliens, a Borg. (VOY: "Blood Fever") Chakotay would become involved in the Distant Orgin Theory controversy between the Voth. Gegen, a leading Voth scientist, believed that the Voth are descendent from a species in a different part of the galaxy. The offical interpretation on the planet is that the Voth were the first beings to evolve into intelligent beings in the galaxy. After finding the bones of a Voyager crewmember, he believes that he has evidence of his theory. He discovers Voyager, and, using a cloaked device, boards the ship. After Chakotay discovers him, Gegen explains his presence. The Doctor determines that the Voth have evolved from the dinosaurs on Earth. When the evidence is presented to the Voth council, Chakotay stands with him to support his evidence. The council rejects it and threatens to imprison Chakotay and the rest of the Voyager crew, unless Gegen publicly disavows his theory, which he does. (VOY: "Distant Origin") Timelines In 2373, Chakotay and the Voyager crew were swept back in time to 1996 after a confrontation with a future ship and its captain, Braxton. They were successful in preventing a businessman, Henry Starling, from stealing the the time ship. (VOY: "Future's End, Part I and Part II") During the Year of Hell conflict with the Krenim, he was captured by Annorax, the commander of the Krenim ship. At first, he helped Annorax, who promised to return Voyager intact to its original timeline if Chakotay gave him enough detail about Voyagers time in Krenim space, so that Annorax could have the right caluations to use in his time weapon. But after Annorax destroyed a species to try to restore the timeline, Chakotay would help sabotage the ship by transmitting its location to ''Voyager and taking its weapons off line. This allowed Janeway to crash Voyager into the Krenim time ship, destroying it and restoring the timeline. Conflict With The Borg Later that year, Chakotay discovered the presence of the Borg when he landed on a planet to mine galliecite. There he met the Sakari, who moved underground to escape attacks from invaders. He found a corpse of one of the invaders, which was Borg. Later that same year he encountered a group of former drones, who, due to an accident in space, were released from the collective, and returned to their humanity. Chakotay was seriously injured on this away mission. The group, headed by a human called Riley Frazier, still maintained the ability to link. They used their link to help heal Chakotay. Riley told him that there was another group of former drones with whom they were in conflict. She wanted Voyager to help her activate a neural transmitter on the disabled Borg ship so they could link with the dissent group. Janeway refused, so the group used its former link with Chakotay to activate the transmitter. This neural link proved benefical when later that year, Voyager formed an alliance with the Borg to fight Species 8472. After Species 8472 was defeated, Chakotay used his neural link ability to sever Seven of Nine from the collective, thus allowing Voyager to escape assimilation by the Borg. (VOY: "Unity", "Scorpion, Part II") In 2375, Chakotay and Janeway devised a plan to steal a transwarp core from a Borg ship. When Seven was captured, Janeway lead an away team to rescue her. Chakotay, in command of Voyager, attacked the Borg conduit, destroying it. (VOY: "Dark Frontier") He was captured by a Borg ship piloted by child Borg drones that were separated from the collective when the elder Borgs died due to a msyterious illness. With the aid of Seven, he was rescued. (VOY: "Collective") He helped save Borg drones who had become aware of their humanoid existence during Unimatrix Zero. Saving the drone from the Borg Queen started a civil war in the collective. (VOY: "Unimatrix Zero, Part I and Part II") Species Encounters In 2374, he had various encounters with a number of different races. He was brainwashed by the Vori, who had him join their war against the Kradin. When the Hirogen took over Voyager and used its crew in holo-programs to hunt, he was the leader af a US Army divison in a Nazi program. (VOY: "Nemesis", "The Killing Game, Part I and Part II") He and the crew would be used in medical experiments by the Srivani, and help Neelix regain a purpose for his existence. Neelix was alomost killed in an accident and when he was broke back to life, he questioned his beliefs in the afterlife, and the meaning of life itself. (VOY: "Scientific Method", "Mortal Coil") Kellin, a Ramuran, whose society is closed, fell in love with Chakotay. If a Ramuran leaves the planet, they are hunted down and returned to the planet with the memories of those who they met erased from their minds. Those who they meet cannot hold their memories of contact with the Ramuaran for more than a few hours once they leave. Kellum explains that she had visited Voyager previously and that she and Chakotay fell in love. The Ramuran ships once again attack Voyager and an agent beams aboard to take Kellum back; he hits her with a transmitter and again wipes out her knowledge of Chakotay. As she leaves he write down in his log about her so he will not forget her. (VOY: "Unforgettable") Chakotay also encountered Species 8472 again, when Voyager discovered an Earth-like structure on a planet. It was a training facility for a possible invasion of Earth by Species 8472. He also encountered aliens in chaotic space that helped him chart a course out of chaotic space. (VOY: "In the Flesh", "The Fight") He would lead an away team in an attempt to stop a Malon ship from exploding and spreading radiation into space. (VOY: "Juggernaut") Confrontation with Janeway Chakotay was not always in agreement with Janeway's command decisions. He had reservations about destroying the Caretaker's Array, which left Voyager and his Maquis stranded in the Delta Quadrant. After constant attacks by the Kazon, he urged Janeway to think more like a Maquis because Starfleet regulations were too rigid to survive alone. He urged her to seek alliances with other sects of the Kazon. (VOY: "Caretaker", "Alliances") Chakotay wanted to assist a group of former Borg drones establish a link with another group to stop fighting between the groups. Janeway would refuse to let him board the disabled Borg ship and retrieve a generator that could establish a new link between the groups. Due to a former link between the cooperative as they were called now, which was used to heal Chakotay, they were able to command him to retrieve the generator. (VOY: "Unity") When Janeway tried to carry out a Starfleet directive called the Omega Directive in secret, he persuaded her to brief the crew on the mission so it could be accomplished. (VOY: "The Omega Directive") The most serious conflict occurred during the encounter with the [[USS Equinox|USS Equinox]]. The Equinox, which was commanded by Captain Rudolph Ransom, was using nucleogenic beings as fuel for his ship. Equinox tried to escape Voyager, and they kidnapped Seven of Nine. In order to find the location of the Equinox, Janeway put a member of the Equinox in a cargo bay and threatened to release the beings which had been attacking the Equinox and killing the crew, unless he told her of the location of the Equinox. When Chakotay realized what she was doing and that Janeway wasn't bluffing, he released the crewmen and told Janeway she had crossed the line. Janeway relieved him of duty. (VOY: "Equinox, Part II") Chakotay convinced Seven to allow three former drones who were in her collective to remove their neural implants so they could live individually, even if it meant they would die within a month. Seven, due to a malfunction in her neural node, tried to convince Chakotay that Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant on purpose to stage an invasion. He believed that he took part in a massacre of colonists. This was caused by a synapthic transmitter left behind on a planet as a reminder of the massacre. (VOY: "Survival Instinct", "[[The Voyager Conspiracy|The Voyager Conspiracy]]", "Memorial") Chakotay was interested in the early history of space exploration, and when Voyager encountered a graviton ellipse which had trapped the Ares IV, he wanted to retrieve the spacecraft. Chakotay and an away team, using the Delta Flyer, were trapped in the ellipse. He was injured, but the team was able to break away from the distortion and return to Voyager. (VOY: "One Small Step") The Return Home In 2377, the last year of Voyager's return home from the Delta Quadrant, Chakotay attempted to hijack Voyager with a Maquis crewman due to a brainwash suggestion implanted by a Bajoran named Teero Anaydis. He also restored Voyager to the proper timeline when it was hit by the gravimetric force of a spatial rift. Chakotay rescued the crew from the Quarren workforce when the crew's memories were wiped out in order to solve the workforce shortage on the planet. (VOY: "Repression", "Shattered", "Workforce, Part I and Part II") Near the end of Voyager's time in the Delta Quadrant, he became romantically involved with Seven of Nine. They became very close during an away mission when they were stranded on a planet due to a shuttle crash. They discoverd a primitive tribe that helped them repair their ship. (VOY: "Natural Law") Voyager returned home using a Borg conduit. Admiral Janeway had returned to the past to help her counterpart, Captain Janeway, defeat the Borg and return the ship sooner than the fifteen years it took her. This saved the life of Seven, who had been killed on the original journey home, and helped Tuvok avoid a mental breakdown due to a neural disease. (VOY: "Endgame") Alternate timelines In an alternate timeline, Chakotay married Seven of Nine, who later died on an away mission. He himself died in 2394, only a few weeks before Voyager's return. (VOY: "Endgame") In another timeline, Chakotay and Harry Kim flew the Delta Flyer to Earth after Voyager was destroyed due to a mistake of Harry's. Fifteen years later, as fugitives, they found Voyager and "fixed" history. (VOY: "Timeless") Background Chakotay was played by Robert Beltran during the course of the Voyager series. In VOY: "Tattoo," a younger Chakotay was played by Douglas Spain. Although Chakotay was invariably referred to as "commander" during the run of this series, he wore the provisional rank insignia of a lieutenant commander. This is not contradictory, as it is accepted terminology to shorten the rank; however it is odd that no one ever mentioned his real rank, in full. In TNG: "Preemptive Strike", the lieutenant commander whom Ro Laren refers to as her instructor at Starfleet Tactical Training in 2369/2370 who joined the Maquis was intended by the producers as a reference to Chakotay. In fact, this fact is included in Ro Laren's biography at StarTrek.com. That intention was contradicted in VOY: "In the Flesh" where Chakotay stated that he resigned his commission on March 3, 2368. Addendum: According to StarTrek.com's biography on Chakotay, he resigned his commission in 2370, but it also lists his father dying in 2370 (which sparks his resignation), and later in the same article that his father dies in 2371. It would seem that there is some confusion as to this. Apocrypha In the ''Voyager relaunch book series, Chakotay returns to Starfleet and becomes captain of [[USS Voyager|USS Voyager]]. It also shows that he has a younger sister who's become a spritual leader of their tribe. In the novel Pathways, it is stated that the Starfleet captain who sponsored Chakotay in applying to Starfleet Academy was Hiromi Sulu, the grandson of Hikaru Sulu and son of Demora Sulu, while in the short story ''Seduced from the anthology Tales From the Dominion War, it is stated that it was Demora Sulu. That Chakotay refered to this Captain as a "he" is explained as a deliberate deception on Chakotay's part as he didn't believe that his father would have the same respect for a woman as he would for a man.'' Chakotay Chakotay Chakotay Chakotay de:Chakotay fr:Chakotay pl:Chakotay